Why do both sharps and flats exist?

Flats and sharps are necessary to allow every version of the diatonic scale to start at any point on the chromatic scale without repeating a note letter name, or assigning different notes in our chosen diatonic scale to the same line on the musical stave.

Can a chromatic scale have sharps and flats?

The chromatic scale has both sharps and flats because— using the piano as a convenient example — any note on a black key is sharp in relation to the white key on its left and flat in relation to the white key on its right.

What is the general rule for using sharps and flats in a chromatic scale?

This is a VERY GENERAL rule with MANY exceptions: when the chromatic notes move up, sharps are used… and when the chromatic notes move down, flats are used. This example has a couple of new things it it. There is a Key Signature (key of Eb) at the beginning of the staff.

How do you explain sharps and flats?

A sharp raises a note, while a flat lowers a note. Accidentals in a measure last throughout the measure but can be canceled by a natural sign. Sharps and flats share a common pitch and are called enharmonic.

Why is the chromatic scale written differently going up and down?

Put simply, a chromatic scale is all twelve notes arranged in ascending or descending order of pitch. It’s made up entirely of semitones (half steps) with each note being a semitone above or below the last note. To descend you play the note one semitone (half step) lower until you reach your starting note.

Why does the chromatic scale have 12 notes?

The idea behind twelve is to build up a collection of notes using just one ratio. The advantage to doing so is that it allows a uniformity that makes modulating between keys possible.

Can a key have both sharps and flats?

A key signature will only contain one kind of accidentals, either sharps or flats, but never both. You will find it right next to the clef symbol at the beginning of the staff.

How many notes don’t have a flat in the chromatic scale?

A Chromatic Scale uses all 12 semitones in the octave, for a total of 13 notes. You can write a Harmonic Chromatic Scale.

What is a chromatic scale and how to play it?

What is a chromatic scale? Put simply, a chromatic scale is all twelve notes arranged in ascending or descending order of pitch. It’s made up entirely of semitones (half steps) with each note being a semitone above or below the last note. On a piano that means playing all the white notes and all the black notes in order of pitch like this:

Why can’t sharps and flats be in the same scale?

There is no rule that excludes them from being in the same scale. The music notation will only enable permutations of the major scale (ie minor natural & all modes) to be written with only sharps or flats, because its structure is built-in the name of the notes (imagine what would happen if the notes were named from 1 to 12).

What are sharps and flats used for in music?

Sharps and flats serve two purposes in western music: (1) to indicate diatonic notes where those notes are different from those in the C Major / A minor scale and (2) to indicate chromatic notes not in the diatonic scale.

What are the 12 notes in the chromatic scale called?

Look at the keyboard below – you will see that there are 12 notes separating the 2 “C’s” (7 white and 5 black) – these 12 notes are called the chromatic scale. The interval (or gap) between each of these notes is called a semitone.